This invention relates to commercial banking equipment. More particularly, this invention relates to apparatus which enables bank customers to make deposits when the bank is closed, also known as night depositories.
In a variety of commerical situations, it is highly desirable to make deposits in a bank (or other banking institutions such as a savings and loan or a credit union) after the bank has closed for the day to ensure the safety of the deposits for the night. The deposits are usually comprised of the proceeds from the day's business of a commercial establishment, whether it be a restaurant, a theatre, a retail store, etc., which closes after the bank closes. The owners, operators and managers of such establishments usually prefer that these proceeds be taken directly to a bank for safekeeping at the end of the day rather than staying within the commercial establishment or within the custody of store personnel until the bank opens the next morning.
By depositing the proceeds directly in a bank, the possibility of the proceeds getting stolen is reduced since bank premises are usually much harder for a thief to break into than are commercial establishments, and it also reduces the risk of an employee in custody of the proceeds getting assaulted by a thief since the time the employee is in custody of the proceeds is greatly reduced. For these reasons, most commercial banking institutions, including savings and loans and credit unions, provide apparatus for the depositing of money after the banking institutions' operating hours, commonly known in the banking trade as night despositories.
These night depositories have generally been of three types; the drum cylinder type, the bin type (a v-shaped rotating bin having an axis of rotation which passes through near the bottom of the bin) and the drawer type. The night depositories according to this invention are of the last type, the drawer type.
These drawer-type night depositories usually run on casters or bearings and pull in and out of a housing. The items being deposited are placed in the drawer when the drawer is opened. Then when the drawer is closed, slots in the bottom of the drawer usually line up with an opening below and either this is enough to allow the deposited items to fall through to a bin below the drawer or a trap door is activated which drops the items into the bin.
However, none of these prior drawer-type night depositories or the night depositories of the drum cylinder or bin type are completely burglar-proof.
There are two methods of stealing something from a night depository commonly employed. The first method is by applying an adhesive in the interior of the night depository so that any subsequently deposited item will stick to the interior and not fall into the bin below when the drawer is closed or the bin or drum cylinder is rotated. The burglar can then open up the night depository after the legitimate user has left the scene and remove the valuables from the item stuck to the night depository.
The second method commonly used by a burglar is to drop a fish hook or other small grasping-type item on a line into the night depository and try and either bring the item back up through the apparatus of the night depository or reverse the normal operation of the apparatus to withdraw the deposited items from the night depository.
In addition to being susceptible to the above thievery, some of these prior art devices are very complex and involve many moving parts which may inadvertently and easily jam up or otherwise become inoperable, preventing further use of the night depository by legitimate users until it is serviced.
From the above, it is apparent that there is a need in the art for a night depository which is not susceptible to thievery by the adhesive or fish hook methods discussed above, and which is simple in construction and operation, yet effective and efficient.
This invention fulfills these needs in the art, plus other needs which will become apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure: